My strata report says "records not sighted" — does it matter?
It means the inspector asked for a record and was not given it. The absence proves nothing either way — but a document that was requested and not produced is a different thing from one that does not exist.
Strata inspection reports are limited by what the strata manager puts in front of the inspector on the day. A good report says so explicitly and lists what it could not see. A buyer skimming for problems reads that list as "nothing found" — which is the opposite of what it says.
“The following records were requested and were not produced at the inspection. Their absence is not evidence that the matters do not exist.”
Some absences are routine. Others are load-bearing. The ones worth chasing:
- The ten year capital works fund plan — without it you cannot tell whether the fund balance is adequate.
- Recent meeting minutes, especially of a meeting where a levy was struck. The resolution as notified is not the same as the minutes of what was decided.
- The current annual fire safety statement.
- Any quote or costing for known defect or cladding work.
- Correspondence files, where disputes tend to surface before they reach minutes.
This is the one category where a report's honesty works against it in a skim. A report that lists its own gaps is a better report than one that does not — but only if you read the list.
It is worth separating the explanations, because they are not equally reassuring. A record may not have been produced because it genuinely does not exist, because it was archived and nobody retrieved it in time, because the inspection was booked at short notice, or because someone chose not to hand it over. The first three are common and usually innocent. The fourth is rare and expensive, and nothing in the phrase "not sighted" distinguishes them.
What you can do about it is more than most buyers realise. The records are the owners corporation's, and you can ask for them by name — either through the agent, or through your conveyancer, who can put the request in writing and note the response. A strata manager who produces a document within a day has answered the question. One who does not has also answered it.
Time pressure is the reason this gets skipped. Reports are usually ordered a week out from an auction, and chasing a missing ten year plan feels like a luxury. It is the opposite: the gap is largest exactly where the deadline is tightest, which is also when you have the least ability to walk away.
What to ask
Copy these into an email. The people below can answer them; we can’t.
- To your strata manager: please provide the records the inspector requested and did not receive, specifically [list them].
- To your conveyancer: can settlement be made conditional on production of the missing records, or a fresh inspection once they are available?
Want this found in your own documents?
Home Decoded reads your building, pest, strata and contract reports and pulls out what matters — with the exact quote and page behind every finding, so you can check it against the original.
Related
General information about what these documents say — not legal, building or financial advice, and not a substitute for your conveyancer, solicitor or licensed inspector. Law and practice change, schemes differ, and your contract may say something different from the general position described here.